On Bravo’s “Top Chef: Las Vegas” last night, Penn and Teller were guests as well as chef Michelle Bernstein. But there was no magic act when it came to elimination time….because there are a few of these contestants that are hanging by a thread with the likes of Jennifer, Kris Kringle (Kevin) and the brothers Voltaggio that are barreling toward a showdown.

For the quick fire challenge with Bernstein as the judge, the chefs had to create a dish that displayed their own personal battle (i.e. something like an artery clogging dish alongside a heart-healthy one). The winner would have immunity for the elimination challenge.

The least favorites were Ash, who made some sort of custard; Brian, who made a chocolate dish that probably tasted better than it looked, or maybe not; and Laurine, who Bernstein said made a dish with no inspiration. Yikes. The favorites were Michael, who made two kinds of salmon; Eli, who made a risotto; and Robin, who made a raw salad that representer her surviving cancer, and a decadent apple crisp. Robin won, and Eli was bitter afterward, saying Robin used her cancer to gain an edge. Dude, easy!

On to the main challenge and replacing Gail Simmons this week would be British wiseass critic Toby Young. Vegas staples Penn & Teller would also be on hand to help eat and judge. The challenge was to de-construct classic dishes so that all of the flavors would blend together at the end to taste like the original dish. Some of the chefs were baffled by this challenge, including Jennifer who was fearing elimination for once.

Here is what they wound up choosing randomly:
Mike Isabella: eggs florentine
Mike V.: Caesar salad
Brian: Reuben sandwich
Laurine: fish & chips
Ash: shepherd’s pie
Jen: meat lasagna
Ron: paella
Eli: sweet & sour pork
Ben Folds (Ashley): pot roast
Kris Kringle: chicken mole
Robin: New England clam chowder

As they were cooking, Eli’s pressure cooker blew its top….and considering that he brought his own pressure cooker and the kitchen had plenty of their own, we had to wonder why he did this. And who travels with a presssure cooker anyway? Oh wait, my mom does, to make her famous mashed potatoes when she visits us.

Anyway, as host Tom Colicchio visited with each chef as they were preparing the dishes, Jennifer was trying to avoid him because she was so busy trying to make her dish a good one. Ron and Mike I. were totally confused by the challenge.

Anyway, at judgment time, Ben Folds, Michael V., Kris Kringle and Jennifer were the favorites. They loved the flavor of Ben’s pot roast, loved the way Michael de-constructed his Caesar salad, the way Jen melted cheese on top of meat and pasta and especially the thought and intricacy that went into Kris Kringle’s mole….and he was declared the winner this week.

The worst dishes this week were by Laurine, Ron and Ash. Laurine’s fish was overcooked and she only served two chips with each dish because many of the ones she cooked were soggy. Ron did a lousy job de-constructing his paella, and he was probably hurt by the fact that every other chef was trying to give him advice (in fairness, he did ask them for the advice). And Ash was pretty clueless about shepherd’s pie, and when his potatoes did not cook properly, he tried to substitute some sort of parsley puree. Think about that for a minute….parsley for potatoes? What was this guy thinking??? Anyway, I really thought Ash should have gotten the boot for that, but they instead chose Ron. All I can say is his paella must have really tasted awful for them to choose him.

So okay…..we’re down to 10 now….Mike, Mike, Brian, Laurine, Ash, Jen, Eli, Ben Folds, Kris Kringle and Robin…and you can bet Ash and Laurine are going to be next to go…with Robin, Ben Folds, Eli and Mike I. the next tier. I’d be really surprised if Jen, Mike V. Brian and Kris Kringle weren’t the final four, but who knows? This is reality TV after all, so anything can happen.

Who do you like? Who don’t you like? Let me know in the space below and see you next week….

Last night on Bravo’s “Top Chef: Las Vegas,” the remaining 12 contestants were asked to rough it, literally. But first, a unique quickfire challenge that would be judged by special guest Tim Love, who was a contestant on “Top Chef Masters” and owns Lonesome Dove Western Bistro and The Love Shack in Fort Worth, Texas. The challenge, as voted on by TV viewers, was to cook something using a unique ingredient–cactus. Thankfully this beat out the other two possibilities–rattlesnake and kangaroo. (ewwwww).

Now apparently the most difficult part of working with cactus (well, besides the obvious part of not getting stabbed) is the fact that they are slimy and you have to counter that or release the slime altogether. Again, ewwwww…though admittedly I’ve had cactus soup and it was quite tasty. Anyway, Tim’s least favorite dishes were by Ash, Michael, and Ron….Ash made some sort of grilled chicken, Michael made some sort of weird “train” concoction and Ron chipotle fish with cactus. It was odd to see Michael in the bottom but this competition is going to heat up fast, so we should get used to things like that.

Meanwhile, Tim’s favorites were Laurine (steak), Mike Isabella (cactus and tuna tartare) and Mattin (something with tequila). Mike I. won the challenge and the $15K.

Then for the elimination challenge, the chefs were bused to the desert where they would be sleeping in teepees and having to cook for a group of cowboys and cowgirls using makeshift barbecue pits. Yikes.
It didn’t help that they would once again be working in direct sunlight, and it was over 100 degrees. Anyway, the cowboys and cowgirls arrived, and so did judges Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi and Gail Simmons.

They presented their dishes in groups of three but here is what each contestant made (though my descriptions are brief and not as elaborate as what they actually made):

Mike I.: pork gyro
Eli: sun dried tomato and tuna sandwich
Laurine: Arctic char with tomatillo salsa

Ash: grilled chicken with corn succotash
Mattin: 3-way ceviche (which Colicchio actually spit out..yikes)
Robin: grilled romaine with drunken prawns and Italian sausage

Brian:pork loin with corn polenta and dandelion greens
Jen: snapper with duck confit
Ben Folds (Ashley): halibut with avocado cream

Ron: coconut lime mango ceviche with some kind of coconut drink
Kris Kringle (Kevin): duck breast with mole sauce
Mike V: dashi with miso and mirin (I had no idea what dashi was, so you can thank Wikipedia for the link)

Anyway, the favorite dishes were by Laurine, Ben Folds, Michael V and Brian. No surprise about the brothers, but Laurine and Ben were both on the chopping block recently, and Laurine especially had a huge comeback last night.

The least favorites were Robin, Ron and Mattin. Robin’s prawns were not very good, and some of the judges thought the shrimp may have been spoiled. Ron’s drink was awful, and the judges said if he had just made the ceviche, he would not be up for elimination. And Mattin’s ceviche, though he thought it was good, was described by Love as “like sucking on a piece of flooring.” Wow. He even added that he didn’t feel good after eating it. Wow again.

So you know where we’re going with this, don’t you? Mattin was booted off, not just because his dish literally made the judges sick, but because he didn’t realize the dish was not good himself. Robin, meanwhile, definitely knew it and showed remorse.

Okay, so we’re down to the final 11, and once we get rid of some more of the pretenders, this season is going to get real interesting real fast….because there are at least five or six chefs who could win.

See you next week and thanks for reading….

We’re three episodes into Bravo’s “Top Chef: Las Vegas,” and already it’s looking like this is going to be a race between Jennifer and like half a dozen guys. So far, everyone that’s been eliminated has been female, and a few of the next chefs to be cut are likely to be women as well, judging by recent history.

Last night the episode (which was a too-long 75 minutes) began with a quick fire challenge, as the contestants were greeted by host Padma Lakshmi and chef Mark Peel (who was recently on “Top Chef Masters”). The theme of the challenge was potatoes, and they were asked to create an “out of this world” potato dish in 45 minutes time.

Since we still have way too many contestants and could use pages of cyberspace saying what each one made, we’ll continue to just give you the best and worst, since that’s what Peel would be judging anyway.
His least favorite were Eli, Ron, and Jesse. Eli made some sort of sweet potato dish with pistachios, and Padma had the misfortune of chomping on a shell. Ron made some sort of yellow tail fish with potatoes, and made reference to Bob Marley (Ron is Jamaican) but his dish lacked flavor. Jesse made a sweet potato soup but was too heavy on the cayenne pepper.

Peel’s favorites were Jen, who made some sort of mussel and potato dish with broth; Ash, whose ice cream instead turned into a custard, which made him laugh that he actually came out on top; and Ben Folds (Ashley), who was almost inadvertently sabotaged by Preeti, and scrambled to finish her gnocchi dish in time. Jen won the challenge and her prize was immunity this week, and one of the guys made a comment about Jen being a teacher’s pet of sorts. Yeah, but that’s because she is a damn good cook, guys, and she has an arrogance that she can back up.

Then came the elimination challenge, and after meeting an Air Force base colonel, the group was told they would be cooking as one team for 300 or so Air Force “Thunderbirds” and their families. But the catch was, they would not know their ingredients and cooking untensils until they arrived at the base. When they did arrive, they realized they would be dealing mostly with canned foods and no pots or pans or stove tops. Yikes.

They decided to break up into teams of two to streamline the process, with each chef being responsible mostly for one dish. Jen was assigned the title of executive chef since she had immunity, something she is familiar with doing outside the show. The last two to not be picked for teams were Ron and Jesse, who then had to work with each other.

After serving everyone, including Peel and the three regular judges (Padma, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons), they were asked to pick their favorites and least favorites. The judges asked Mike, Michael, Eli and Kris Kringle (Kevin) to face them. They praised Michael, who made some sort of pork belly dish that they couldn’t get enough of; but berated Mike, who threw together a cold shrimp salad that was bland and uninspired. They loved Eli and Kris Kringle’s tag-team of braised pork and potato salad, staying true to their Southern roots and reminding Peel of his grandmother’s cooking. But the winner was Michael.

Then, they stunned Mike by saying they wanted him to return to the losers’ bracket along with Laurine and Preeti. Mike was again lashed at for his shrimp dish, but he was like a pit bull trying to defend himself. The judges appreciated his fire, but were still correct in saying he should have not made the dish at all, and instead should have focused on helping Michael. Preeti and Laurine were another team, and they made a pasta salad with veggies like sun-dried tomatoes and artichokes that looked boring as hell. Laurine said she forgot it was a competition for a minute, that she was more focused on and honored about feeding the troops. Preeti, however, said that she didn’t believe anything was wrong with the dish. After deliberating, the judges told Preeti to pack her knives and go, and it was mostly because she really believed her flavorless and boring pasta was one of the best dishes. Tom even said to her, “Do you want to just get by week after week, or do you want to win?” And when he answered his own question, the choice was easy.

So three women have gone home–Jen with the big hoop, disgusting earrings and very large tattoos; Eve, and Preeti.

The next several weeks will likely see chefs such as Jesse, Ron and Laurine heading home. Michael, Brian, Jennifer, and Kris Kringle appear to be the top contenders, but you just never know how things are going to shake out on “Top Chef.” See you all next week…..

On last night’s “Top Chef Las Vegas” on Bravo, there was another high stakes quick fire challenge, and an elimination challenge that was to cook for a dual bachelor/bachelorette party. At one point during the episode, one of the chefs was talking about how he had nicknames for all of his fellow contestants….so I’m going to start using a few of my own nicknames too.

Kevin will now be known as Kris Kringle.
Ashley will now be known as Ben Folds.

That’s all I can think of right now, but if you watch this show and know what I’m talking about, you are probably laughing right now.

Okay….so for the quick fire challenge, each chef had to roll a pair of dice on a craps table in front of host Padma Lakshmi and celebrity chef Todd English. For the number that they rolled, each one had to create a dish using that number of ingredients–excluding salt, pepper, and cooking oil. So the contestants hoped for a small-medium number to keep things simple, but a few of them rolled 10’s and 11’s. Oh, and the prize? $15K! I wanted to jump through my TV and whip something up myself.

Anyway, Kris Kringle rolled a 10 and someone else rolled a 3 and there were a lot of in-betweens. After tasting each dish, the judges chose a few of their least favorites and then their favorites–Jesse, Eve and Brian (one of the brothers) were the least faves. Jesse made scallops that were mushy, Eve made a salad with blue cheese, but the cheese was overpowering. And Brian’s dish lacked overall flavor. The winners were Mike (Brian’s brother), who made a gazpacho chilled by nitrogen; Jennifer, who made a salmon carpaccio dish; and Kris Kringle, who made an asparagus salad with a nicely cooked half-egg.

This is getting to be a trend….Eve and Jesse in the bottom, and Jennifer and Kris Kringle at the top….so we’ll see how things start to shake out. Anyway, on to the bachelor/bachelorette party, and the couple came in to talk to the chefs about the challenge. They would be divided into teams, men vs. women…and the guys would cook for the ladies and vice versa. The couple had an off the wall request, that the dishes created be paired with their three favorite drink shots. Ben Folds kept going off about how she was gay and had a problem being involved in anything that celebrated marriage, but ultimately she realized that she needed to focus on cooking and try to help her team win. The winning team, by the way, would have immunity this week, and it was made much more difficult considering they would be serving out by a pool in direct sunlight.

Ben Folds decided she was going to make two dishes instead of one, something her teammates weren’t thrilled about. And after serving their dishes, many of the guys decided to jump in the pool with their clothes on–their stinky, kitchen-rank clothes. Nice guys, real nice.
Anyway, along with the regular judges Tom Colicchio, Padma, and Gail Simmons, Todd English would be the fourth judge this week. They chose the four best and the four worst as they did last week.

The best? Brian, who made some sort of Mexican themed meringue that looked really interesting; his brother Michael, who made a sorbet with goat cheese cookie; Eli, who made a tuna tartare with ginger; and Hector, who made some sort of tartare as well but with tofu. As for Hector, there is an example of using a bland ingredient, but making the dish come to life with flavor, unlike Jen last week with her seitan.

The worst? Eve, who made a fishy-tasting shrimp ceviche; Jesse, and I can’t remember what she made but it was watery; Preeti, with an overcured tuna dish; and Ben Folds, because even though her watermelon carpaccio was good, they didn’t like the custard she made and thought she hurt herself by making the two dishes. Well, since Ben Folds made at least one good dish, she was likely safe, and you have to believe this came down to Eve and Jesse because they kept finding themselves at the bottom of the heap. Padma then said, “Eve, please pack your knives and go.”

So now we’re down to 15 contestants….still too many to make covering this show easy, but we’ll do our best! Let me know your thoughts on the episode and thanks for reading….

“Top Chef Last Vegas” (Season 6) kicked off last night and while I confess that I only started watching this show last season and became really hip during “Top Chef Masters,” I feel like I’ve been watching it all along. And since these first episodes are usually crazy to try and recap with all the new faces, let’s just run down the names of the contestants: Kevin, Preeti, Ron, Eve, Mattin, Jesse, Jen, Jennifer, Bryan, Michael, Mike, Laurine, John, Robin, Hector, Eli and Ashley. Whew.

They brought in the usual cast of characters as judges—Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi and Gail Simmons, and they began with the Quick Fire challenge, which was the team relay race. They broke into teams of four, but since there are 17 contestants, one of them drew a gold coin and was able to sit out the race, as well as have immunity for the first week. That person was Robin.

For the race, the four stations were shucking clams, cleaning prawns, breaking down lobster meat and then cutting a prime rib into two chops. One of the teams was at a horrible disadvantage to start, as Preeti had never shucked a clam in her life, yet volunteered to do that station by default. The blue team—Bryan, Mattin, Jennifer and Jesse—won the challenge. Their prize was now to face off against each other, making a meal with the ingredient they had in the race in 30 minutes. Jen won with her clam ceviche, and her prize was $15K.

Then on to the elimination challenge, and in addition to the three regular judges, chef Wolfgang Puck would be the fourth judge and the competition would take place at his restaurant in the Palazzo Hotel & Casino. It would be a “vice” challenge, in which each contestant had to create a dish based on their personal vices, because it was Vegas, after all. It was a bit confusing because Colicchio said that they would be competing as teams, but against each other, or something like that. Whatever. After each group of four came out and presented their meals to the judges, they deliberated and brought out Ron, Mike, Jennifer and Kevin—and said they were the best four of the group. Kevin won the challenge with his nicely cooked halibut with green salsa.

Then the bottom four were Hector, Jen, Jesse and Eve. Hector had made deep-fried steak, something Puck and the judges really gave him a hard time about. Jesse made chicken which was way too dry, Eve made a seafood dish with no flavor, and Jen made Mexican stuffed peppers, but used seitan instead of meat. This one also had no flavor, and the judges questioned her use of something other than meat for this particular creation. So they booted her off, along with those tattoos that appeared to cover most of her body. But aside from being risky with the seitan, the fact that Jen made a typically spicy, flavorful dish with no flavor was her ticket home.

There was a ton of information crammed into 75 minutes last night, so as we go along we will learn more about these contestants and their creations and convey that to all of you. In the meantime, I’m off to cook me some breakfast…